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Thanks, AS. I really couldn't thank you enough considering your help when I was starting out. AI's help too. You guys have really aided my development in artistic skills and in a way I almost view you guys as my mentor or something. I doubt that if I hadn't made this thread and gotten all of the advice you guys offered that I would have made as much progress as I have. I don't post super often anymore but I try to at least sketch something once a day.

And yeah, it is one of those things where one's the serious head and one's the happy-go-lucky head and the former hates the latter.

Not bad, man. I still like seeing how often you fill out your whole piece even when they're pretty simple, it goes a long way to making it feel complete and grabs my attention.

I think ^^ turned out mostly all right, but there's obviously a few things you could do to make it easier on the eyes and make more sense visually. Most obvious thing is going to be remembering that the fire is a light source, which means it should have the brightest levels of anything in the picture. Make it go to a brighter white than anything else. Take those eyes and the other whites and make them a light to middle grey, and only use the white for highlights. This is done properly in the most recent piece above, for the most part (although that's a lot of ambient lighting for night, as the moon is to the back).

Be sure the highlights' positions correspond to the light source - especially on eyes, since they're proper reflections - think of like a video game or a game of billiards - if it's coming from here, where does it have to hit to bounce to the viewer's eye? This applies to all light, but it tends to scatter/distribute more smoothly across uneven surfaces (fabric, fur/hair) as they're actually micro-faceted. The more consistent a surface is, the more it tends to have hard (more glass-like) reflections.

Other than that, I'm thinking you need a softer transition between your shadows and your lighter values, try putting at least one more in-between color along the lines of the shadows so they transition nicer.

Lastly, if you've got a light source in close proximity to the character, the parts of that character/any objects closest to that very local light source are going to be affected more strongly by it! The closer you are to light, the less of it is scattered by the atmosphere, and the more of it that component will reflect. Your fire is casting an unnaturally focused spotlight, not firelight. Just remember that light essentially travels in 'rays' like a showerhead sprays water - if you're close, you can block all of the water because it's coming from a central source, but if you're far it spreads out and has thinner coverage.

I muttered 'light as a board, stiff as a feather' for 2 days straight and now I've ascended, ;aughing at olympus and zeus is crying

I've been on and off of art lately, primarily because I've been having an all-or-nothing perfectionist attitude towards it. The drawing I did in the Drawing Theme topic was actually something I did while trying to put the idea of a perfect drawing out of my head. I think it's going well, since I'm actually enjoying making artwork again for the first time in months, rather than it feeling like a chore.

Anyways I decided to make more pixel art, this one for a banner on another site.

That's the worst goddamn feeling for an artist. The urge to create is there, but the effort puts off people sometimes (myself included). You pretty much have to force yourself to draw at times. But when you do and finish a piece, it's the best feeling.

Your art is looking better and better as per usual. I especially like the Ghost piece.

Mate, just keep in mind Da Vinci probably died wanting to change something else on the Mona Lisa. Since we've got computers and all of these tools that come at zero cost, you can always redo something later when you think you've figured out your mistakes.

Besides, different is different. I've sort of restarted from the beginning for anatomy because I learned what is basically the comic book approach to quick figure drawing but now I want to understand and do all of the physiology from the ground up - I don't want to design something and figure out the muscles afterwards, I want to start with the skeleton, etc, and work from the ground up. It's tough stuff but there will always be more things to learn. In fact, making new processes is what I actually find interesting - I'm mostly a problem solver. If I can't perceive fixes, I actually get pretty bored with art.

I muttered 'light as a board, stiff as a feather' for 2 days straight and now I've ascended, ;aughing at olympus and zeus is crying

[QUOTE="Revenant User, post: 1538656, member: 35827"]I've been on and off of art lately, primarily because I've been having an all-or-nothing perfectionist attitude towards it.[/QUOTE]

That pretty much hits the nail on the head on why I've personally been going through so many art blocks lately. I never feel content with a drawing just staying as a sketch, I always ending up falling in love with it and won't let practice just be practice.

This quote kinda helps me with that mentality:

"Write as often as possible, not with the idea of getting into print, but as if you were learning an instrument." - J. B. Priestley

Of course it can apply to any creative art, not just writing. I'm still having a bit of trouble working myself out of the "all-or-nothing" attitude, but I try to think of it like that quote, like learning an instrument. Yeah, you can go on stage and play a beautiful serenade and show people how good you are, but sometimes you just sit in a room by yourself and mess around with notes and melodies, trying out new things, playing parts of a song over and over until you get it right. You don't have to perform a symphony every time you pick up your instrument.

One thing that helps me is that I have a sketchbook, that when I first started drawing in it, I told myself "This sketchbook is only for me to look at. This is for me to mess with and make as many mistakes and crappy drawings as I want. No polished pieces, just sloppy experimentation that no one else gets to see or judge".

It is at least comforting to know I'm not the only one with this issue. Thanks for sharing words, guys. I've been trying to figure out how to "restart" in a sense and change my perspective on art as a whole. Drawings aren't something that generally flow out of my emotions naturally. I usually just take a really thought-out idea and pursue finishing it to the best of my abilities.

I have been pressing on, which is definitely good. I just started doodling around without thinking and started drawing my hyena fellow again. I made it a process drawing that I decided would be good to use for a commission sheet.

I like those highlights, bud, good job on most of that placement. The one on the side of the arm, maybe the neck looks a bit misplaced, but not a glaring error or anything. Try putting it more toward the middle of the arm, and take into account the shadow the sleeve will cast on the arm, as well as the head casting on the neck (necks are practically always in shadow. Go figure! I can tell you now that it'll also improve your depth if you make the upper chest (along the top of the rib cage/front part of the shoulders) lighter than the rest. I'll mock something up for that.

I'm thinking that since you've mostly nailed this, you should probably try to move onto some less rigid positions! Choose a basic shape like a star or triangle and try to position your character's limbs so they're conforming to the points or boundaries of the shape. Also, try drawing over the top of this one and putting in folds and tension points in the clothing based on where you think the weight will pull the most.

I muttered 'light as a board, stiff as a feather' for 2 days straight and now I've ascended, ;aughing at olympus and zeus is crying

^ Well give it a shot and I'll try to correct what I can. Even I spend a lot of time correcting anatomy, keep in mind. If your arm looks wrong or something, just google arms and try to find the differences in what you've done vs what you see.

For highlight placement and levels, I'm ending up somewhere around this in my head:

The shoulders/upper chest are emphasized more, the arm highlight has been moved to the portion of the arm I'm guessing is facing the viewer. Similarily, I put a highlight on the nose at the part I'm guessing is facing the viewer. I changed the nose to look more reflective. Your levels need to start more neutral - try not to make your colors so bright - it is bright enough to be casting light rather than a neutral object. Also, I corrected the shadows on the ears so they're casting under the top bit. The bangs overall are pretty good but making the line connect all the way to the ear gives it a sort of taped-on appearance, so I've broken the end of the line so it flows into the rest of the hair. Anything else I did is adding in shadows where they're missing.

Most of this was completely do-able by just copying your image and darkenining/adjusting it as I went, and then erasing the parts which should still be light. In some places I went and manually drew in hightlights.

I muttered 'light as a board, stiff as a feather' for 2 days straight and now I've ascended, ;aughing at olympus and zeus is crying